This invention relates generally to carton blanks for forming cartons for packaging a plurality of articles, and more particularly to a carton blank for forming a tubular carton.
A tubular carton may be formed from a carton blank of foldable sheet material such as paperboard. A typical tubular carton includes top and bottom opposed walls interconnected by a pair of opposed side walls to form a tubular structure having opposite open ends. Tubular cartons are economical because they require less paperboard to package articles. Because of the open ends, however, it is required that a tubular carton be provided with proper means for retaining articles within the carton.
An example of the article-retaining means is an aperture for receiving a top or bottom of a packaged article. A typical top-receiving aperture may be formed along the junction between the top wall and either side wall of the carton while a typical bottom-receiving aperture may be along the junction between the bottom wall and either side wall. To use the top or bottom-receiving apertures do not require additional paperboard and thus is one of the most economical approaches to retain articles within the tubular cartons. One drawback of these apertures, however, is that they detract from the structural strength of cartons, which would necessitates the use of higher caliper paperboard when the cartons are designed to be heavy-duty.
What is needed, therefore, is an economical carton blank that requires minimum amount of sheet material and yet provides a sturdy tubular carton having article-retaining means or an end retention structure for preventing the contents from dislodging through the open ends of the carton.